


The Raven Boys' Adventures in Babysitting

by howlittleweare



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-13
Updated: 2015-03-13
Packaged: 2018-03-17 16:24:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3536147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howlittleweare/pseuds/howlittleweare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To leave four teenage boys, three of which were rich and had never lifted a finger in their lives, in charge of taking care of a baby... Well you might as well sit the baby on a cliff and leave it there. Maybe give it some nails and a knife to chew on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Raven Boys' Adventures in Babysitting

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lily_Blues](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lily_Blues/gifts).



> Just a fun, self indulgent fic I thought of a while ago and never got around to finishing until now.
> 
> Based on a fortune cookie I got before book three, and many hilarious and often heartbreaking conversations shared between me and lily_blues

In Cabeswater, time didn’t follow the rules that the rest of the universe did. It spun and twisted and molded time like a glob of clay in its hands. It had been a long time since people came to walk among its trees and speak to it. Cabeswater was not boring and quiet like most forests, it was wild and playful.

The gang never thought about the risks of entering Cabeswater, sifting through the seasons like searching through a box of old and new toys. Blue’s family dealt with the supernatural and the unknown almost everyday, it wasn’t something she really worried about, Ronan wasn’t afraid of the forest and its secrets, Adam may have been suspicious but he was willing, Noah seemed to trust it enough, and Gansey was just oblivious.

One summer day in the orange glow of noon, the group cam to sit between the twisting roots of a tree growing within Cabeswater. They relaxed and talked, planning out the next step in their search. Blue passed out apples for the boys to snack on when Gansey’s stomach grumbled. “Thanks mom,” Ronan said as he threw the green apple farther down the path. Adam munched quietly and Gansey took a bite of his without comment, still staring down at the journal.

Blue rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Well it’s hard not to, hanging out with you boys. Honestly, I don’t know what you’d do without me. You can hardly take care of yourselves, you’re like newborn babies.” she muttered.

“How hard is it to take care of a baby? They don’t do anything,” Noah said from his spot leaning backwards over a rock. Blue laughed and leaned forward. “Haven’t any of you taken a Home Ec. class? Done that assignment where you have to take care of a bionic baby for a week?”

“I took the class in middle school, I kinda remember our class did that project, except it wasn’t a robot baby...” Adam trailed off as Ronan shot him a teasing glance. He was going to get hell for that later, he could tell.

“Of course not,” Gansey spoke up. “I did rowing instead as my extracurricular.” He closed the journal and stood up, signaling to the group that it was time to go.

Blue growled as she gathered up her things, struggling to catch up to the boys that had left her alone in the dying light. Cabeswater pondered mischievously as it listened to their light banter.

Gansey was nearing the edge of Cabeswater when he stopped to let the rest of them catch up. Noah grabbed a low hanging branch and swung from it to the ground. Ronan and Adam stood next to Gansey waiting as well. The sun was setting behind the blue mountains, painting the valley sky purple and pink. When Blue rounded a tree and came into view, Gansey turned back around to carry on. He said over his shoulder “We don’t need to know how to take care of babies, Jane. Besides, it’s not like we’re going to have to deal with that anytime soon.”

Silence was met to his remark, but Gansey didn’t worry. Blue was unpredictable, she may be fuming behind him or she may be laughing to herself. It was better if he just left her alone instead of provoke her more.

The boys had entered the clearing, Noah and Ronan shoving each other and laughing rambunctiously, Adam between them and Gansey on the path. They were almost to the Pig when Noah stopped and said “Wait, where’s Blue?”

The hot humid air stuck Gansey’s hair to his forehead as he looked back and searched the tree line. No sign of the short girl with the wild hair or her frumpy green sleeveless sweater. At the same time that Ronan groaned obnoxiously loudly, Gansey did too. “C’mon, let’s go find her.”

They followed the trail back, watching their feet for any roots or stones that may trip them. All of the boys looked up when Noah, who was up in front, called out “Wha-?”

In front of him was a pile of clothes. A paint stained corduroy skirt and a sweater obnoxious shaded green was moving and squirming at his feet. Adam and Ronan flanked to Noah’s left, staring suspiciously at what Blue left behind. Gansey came to his right and reached down to move the clothes out of the way. Underneath the sweater was a black haired baby with too many multicolored clips for so little hair. They all exchanged confused looks as Ronan turned toward the forest and asked, most likely, what the fuck was this? There was no whispering answer from the trees, but they could all feel the pulsating laughter from the dancing leaves.

Noah bent down and picked up the squirming child and the bundle of clothes. “Okay, so Blue’s a baby now.” he said like it was logical and happened everyday. Which, with their track record, they probably shouldn’t be surprised... but Cabeswater had turned Blue into a baby and wow.

They piled into the Pig, Noah holding Blue in the back seat. Adam was muttering “oh my god” over and over again, and Gansey put it into drive. He pulled out of the field and onto the road again, trying to think about what to do. Ronan was whistling a tune to himself with his feet propped up on the dash. “What do we do?” Adam finally asked.

“I don’t know, We gotta change her back, right?”

“How?” Noah asked.

“Well, why did Cabeswater do this in the first place?”

Gansey seemed to be talking to himself now. He was trying to act calm, but he was kind of panicking on the inside. How could he fix this? Maura was going to kill him, he couldn’t let her know. But there was no one else to go to. They almost ran a red light but Gansey slammed on the breaks in time. “God damn,” he cursed “We gotta go see Maura.”

The jolt from hitting the brakes shook Blue and she burst into tears, a loud wailing cry came from the back set. Ronan turned back to glare “Shut her up.”

“I don’t know how!” Noah was panicked now, he liked babies, but he didn’t know how to take care of them. Ronan’s glare turned toward Adam as another snotty cry rang his ear drums. “You took that baby class?”

Adam sputtered for a second “I did, b-but we didn’t take care of an actual child. It was a sack of flower.”

Ronan spun back around and kicked the dashboard “You gotta be kidding me. It’s not that hard, just shut her up or I’m going to drop her out of the car while we’re still driving.”

Noah clutched Blue close to his chest when he heard the animosity in his tone. The light turned green and Gansey let up on the brake. It was dark outside now and street lights flashed by. “Are you sure we have to go see Maura?” Adam asked.

“You got any better ideas?” Gansey said at the same time Ronan grumbled a threat towards Adam.

“Well she’s probably going to kill us, but she might be less likely to kill us if she doesn’t see Blue,” he had to speak loudly over the baby’s wails. “Especially like this.”

“So what then?” Gansey said as he stopped at a stop sign and waited for an answer.

“Let’s drop her off at Monmouth with Noah-”

“Drop me off too, I’m not gonna be around when she bitches at you for turning her runt into even more of a runt.” Ronan interrupted.

“-And then you and I will go talk to Maura. See what she can do.” Adam finished calmly. It was better than anything Gansey could think of at the moment. He drove to Monmouth parking lot. Ronan climbed out and threw the passenger seat forward so Noah could climb out with Blue. He had tied the stretched out sweater into a makeshift diaper and left the rest of the clothes in the backseat. He had tried to hand her to Ronan while he climbed out, but was met with a “Get that thing away from me.” 

Adam climbed into the front seat and sent an apologetic shrug towards the boys as they pulled out and made their way towards Fox Way. Noah was still standing int the parking lot when he heard Ronan slam the door and run up the stairs, probably to escape to his room.

 

At 300 Fox Way, Gansey and Adam had only been inside for about ten seconds before Calla appeared, eyed them strangely and disappeared up the stairs. They shared a look, but remained standing in the foyer. There were several voices coming from all over the house, but Maura’s rang loud and clear when she came running down the stairs “Where’s Blue? Calla said she sensed something’s wrong?”

She stopped in front of them, a mix of worry and anger on her face. “Well,” Adam started but stopped when Maura’s hard gaze landed on him. He cleared his throat and started again. “We were in Cabeswater, and um-”

“She’s alright, I promise-” Gansey chimed in.

“We went there just to hang out, eat lunch-”

“Nothing dangerous today, I swear-”

“Oh my god, just spit it out you two!” Maura grew annoyed with each comment and crossed her arms. In perfect synchronization that’ll probably never happen again, Adam and Gansey both blurted out “Blue got turned into a baby.”

For once the house was silent, and Gansey felt odd thinking that everyone had been listening. Was there absolutely no privacy in this house? Maura didn’t say anything, she didn’t even move. She stared at them and waited for ten seconds. Calla and Persephone were at the top of the stairs snickering. “What?” Maura finally calmly asked

“Uh, Blue is a baby?” Gansey quietly said. The way Maura was looking at him made him unsure. Her eyes told him he better be lying.

“How?”

“Cabeswater.”

“Why?”

“We don’t know.”

“Where is she?” Calla had walked to the bottom of the stairs and joined Maura.

“At Monmouth with Noah. He’s watching her.”

“No,” Persephone’s soft voice floated down the stairs, but she remained at the top, quickly loosing interest in the conversation. The rest of the house was as well, judging by the conversations being picked up again.

“No?” Adam asked, he looked at Gansey, a lump growing in his throat. He didn’t like the way she said that. “Of course he is, we-”

“Hey.” Noah’s voice was in his ear and both boys jumped. They spun around to either glare or gape at their smudgy friend.

“Noah, what are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at Monmouth.” Gansey sounded exasperated .

“I don’t how to change a diaper. Also, things are more fun here.”

Calla’s grin was like a cat’s as she watched the boys fumble and blubber. Maura remained a still statue of annoyance and well hidden rage. Orla was leaning in the doorway of the kitchen with a matching grin of Calla’s. Adam looked down at Noah’s arms and saw them empty. He looked behind him and still saw nothing. “Noah, where’s Blue?”

“At Monmouth”

“Alone!?”

“Nah, with Lynch.”

The house is silent again. Faces peer out from doorways and over the stair rails. Adam is left speechless and Gansey can feel panic pool in the bottom of his gut. Maura remains silent, and Calla actually cackles. She’s laughing so hard she has to leave the room and exit out the back door into the yard.

Noah is still grinning like he has found something amusing as Gansey turns back to Maura. “We’re, um... We’re gonna go get her.”

Gansey charges out of the house faster than his usual calm gait. Adam is right behind him, pulling Noah along with him. As they climb into the Pig, they hear Calla still laughing in the back yard, yelling between gasps of laughter “Go get her, before the angry one eats her.”

Gansey speeds ten miles over the speed limit all the while Adam is interrogating Noah “Why did you just leave her?”  
“I was bored. She was crying. I don’t know how to take care of kids, so I came to get you guys. Or at least someone who knows how...”

“But you left her... alone...”

“Well, when you say it like that, it sounds bad.” Noah shrugged. 

“It’s bad no matter how you say it. You left Blue, as a baby, all alone and crying.”

Gansey didn’t say anything during the drive over to Monmouth. One Hand was steering the wheel, the other was near his mouth as Gansey worriedly rubbed his lip. “I didn’t leave her alone, I left her with Ronan.”

This only made Gansey’s panic rise and he went faster. They sped up the old road until Monmouth came into view and Gansey still felt antsy. This would be on his hands if anything went wrong. Maura would have his head. He slammed on the brakes and quickly turned the car off. All three jumped from the car and ran for the stairs leading up into the open warehouse floor. Adam was the first up the stairs, he threw the door open and the boys froze in the doorway, heaving for breath and sweaty. Noah had disappeared somewhere on their way up the stairs.

The building was silent; no blaring techno music, no screaming wails. Just Ronan standing in the middle of the floor, cradling a bundle and holding up a bottle for baby Blue to drink from. His eyes darted up from softly bouncing her to look at the boys in the doorway. “What?” he asked harshly, but quietly.

“What are you doing?” Gansey finally regained himself and stepped into the room, hiding his fading panic. Ronan quirked an eyebrow and glanced down at the drowsy baby. “Taking care of the runt, no body else was helping her.”

“We left her with Noah, we went to get help.” Adam explained. Ronan snorted and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, good call with that. He’s been dead for seven years, he probably doesn’t even remember how to take care of himself anymore.”

Noah appeared beside Ronan and shrugged in agreement. Now that Gansey was here, Ronan passed the baby to him. “Support her head,” he added softly and left to escape back to his room. He called over his shoulder as the door closed, “Maggot was right, you guys are clueless.”

 

They drove back to Cabeswater that night. The dark sky hid stars behind clouds and even the moon struggled to breathe. Adam held Blue in the front, Noah sat in the back with clothes given to them by Maura. Gansey drove with a mint leaf resting on his tongue. The sweet scent seemed to calm the baby, her eyes watched each boy curiously.   
In the forest, Gansey held Blue. He smiled down at her as her tiny hand wrapped around his finger. Noah huddled nearby, but not too close. He didn’t want to make her too cold. Adam placed a hand on a tree and glanced at the leaves. He spoke in latin, asking to turn her back. He wasn’t as fluent or confident as Ronan in the foreign tongue, but he got the message across.

The winds blew and the trees whispered a reply. Adam looked at Gansey “Put her down.”

He slowly lowered her to the ground and stepped away. “Cabeswater is going to turn her back?”

Adam shrugged, because really, who knew what the ancient forest would do. Noah gathered the clothes he brought and placed them closer to the still infant. “It’ll do it.”

A moment passed, and like the summer changed to fall in front of their eyes, the baby was suddenly a 16 year old girl yelling at them “TURN AROUND!”

Adam glanced a blush on Gansey’s face and new there must be one his as well. Noah couldn’t blush. As they heard the rustle of clothes behind them, Blue continued to lecture the boys. “I can’t believe cabeswater turned me into a baby. What the hell? And I told you guys you didn’t know how to take care of a child. The only one that actually had any sense was Ronan, and he’s a shit bag!”

Blue whacked both Adam and Gansey’s heads as she passed by and stomped back to the Pig. “She probably won’t come with us to Cabeswater for a while,” Noah laughed as he followed after her. Gansey shook his head, blush still bright on his cheeks, and strode to catch up.

Adam came too, hands in his pockets as he made his way to his friends. There really was a lot about Cabeswater they didn’t know. They should really be more careful.

 

Back at Monmouth, Blue slammed the door open, still grumbling and cursing her temper away. The boys came in after her and watched her pace as she scolded them some more. Ronan’s voce emerged from the blaring music darkness of his room “I thought she wasn’t a baby anymore?”

“She isn’t,” Adam yelled back.

“Then why is she still whining?”


End file.
